Related Resources
Connect with Us
Hunt, by Jena Bender
Winning Poem from Poetry for the Mind's Joy, The Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress
Back to list of winning poems
This poem was submitted for the "Poetry for the Mind's Joy" project and is reproduced here with permission from the author. All rights reserved. Poetry for the Mind's Joy is Poet Laureate Kay Ryan's project that includes a community college poetry contest administered by the Community College Humanities Association and a lively videoconference.
The past follows, stalks, hunts
relentless, endless, exhausting pursuit.
Like a suffocating fog,
overwhelming, overpowering
thick with despair and blackened with memories
it leaves its prey
cornered, heaving, and gasping for peace
in the labyrinth of the present.
Fear, dread, panic, a pleading struggle
until finally, a submergence, a drowning in the depths of melancholy.
Relentless, endless, exhausting the pursued
the past follows, the past stalks,
the past Hunts.
Glen Oaks Community College, Centreville, MI
Faculty Contact:
Lucy Zimmerman
